How popular is the baby name Katharine in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Katharine.

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Popularity of the baby name Katharine


Posts that mention the name Katharine

Where did the baby name Merrial come from in 1920?

Illustration of Merrial Houlton from the Rocky Mountain News (May 1920)
Merrial Houlton (with a suitor)

The rare name Merrial was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1920:

  • 1922: unlisted
  • 1921: unlisted
  • 1920: 6 baby girls named Merrial [debut]
  • 1919: unlisted
  • 1918: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is the story “Mice and Men,” which was serialized in various U.S. and Canadian newspapers that year.

The main character was a young American woman, Merrial Houlton — “an amazing wisp of a girl, who was equally at home on the back of a bucking broncho or presiding over the ‘tea things’ in a Boston drawing room” — who had traveled to England to visit her late mother’s family.

The story was written by Katharine Newlin Burt, a prolific author whose novels (mostly Westerns) were published from the 1910s to the 1970s. Originally from New York, Burt spent much of her adult life in Wyoming on her husband’s Bar BC Dude Ranch (which was later incorporated into Grand Teton National Park).

What are your thoughts on the baby name Merrial?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Rocky Mountain News (16 May 1920)

What popularized the baby name Tracy in the mid-20th century?

Actress Diana Lynn rehearsing for "The Philadelphia Story" (Dec. 1959)
Diana Lynn rehearsing “Philadelphia Story”

According to the U.S. baby name data, the usage of Tracy increased for both boys and girls during the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s.

The boys’ rise was probably bolstered by a pair of masculine associations: leading man Spencer Tracy (who’d become famous in the mid-1930s) and comic strip character Dick Tracy (who first appeared in the papers in the early ’30s).

The girls’ rise was likely influenced by fictional character Tracy Lord, the protagonist of the play The Philadelphia Story (1939), which was adapted for the big and small screens multiple times. Tracy Lord — a beautiful but self-centered heiress — was portrayed by Katharine Hepburn in 1940 (film), Barbara Bel Geddes in late 1950 (TV), Dorothy McGuire in late 1954 (TV), Grace Kelly in 1956 (film), and Diana Lynn in late 1959 (TV).

Notably, the 1959 televised production of The Philadelphia Story featured original music, including “Tracy’s Theme” [vid] — an instrumental song that peaked at #13 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in February of 1960.

Another influence on the girls’ usage may have been AP columnist Hal Boyle, who often wrote about his daughter Tracy Ann (from the time she was adopted in 1953 until the early 1970s). Photos of Tracy Ann Boyle occasionally ran in the newspapers.

Six-year old Tracy Ann Boyle interviewing actor Chuck Connors (Sept. 1959)
Tracy Ann Boyle (in 1959)

The name Tracy was being given more often to baby girls than to baby boys by 1954, and the girls’ usage was more than double the boys’ usage by the end of the 1950s:

Girls named TracyBoys named Tracy
19628,308 (rank: 55th)3,340 (rank: 111th)
19616,987 (rank: 64th)3,185 (rank: 119th)
19605,767 (rank: 84th)2,584 (rank: 137th)
19593,367 (rank: 131st)1,450 (rank: 199th)
19582,110 (rank: 178th)1,249 (rank: 212th)
19571,966 (rank: 183rd)1,156 (rank: 223rd)
19561,386 (rank: 219th)773 (rank: 261st)
1955936 (rank: 280th)526 (rank: 323rd)
1954612 (rank: 348th)445 (rank: 338th)
1953326 (rank: 477th)327 (rank: 387th)

Do you know of anything else (e.g., famous people, characters, news stories) that might have helped popularize the name Tracy in the mid-20th century? (Did I miss anything?)

Sources: The Philadelphia Story (play) – Wikipedia, Tracy’s Theme – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 22 Feb. 1960, SSA

Images: Clippings from the Oakland Tribune (6 Dec. 1959) and the Meriden Journal (17 Sept. 1959)

Pop culture baby name game, 2021

Happy birthday, Elvis!

Tomorrow would have been Elvis Presley’s 86th birthday. (Happy birthday, Elvis!)

You guys know what that means…time for the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!

Think back to the pop culture of 2021 — movies, music, TV shows, online shows, social media, video games, sports, news, cultural events, politics, products, brands, etc.

Which of these things had an influence on U.S. baby names, do you think?

More specifically, which baby names will see higher usage (or appear for the very first time) in the 2021 U.S. baby name data thanks to 2021 pop culture?

Here are some initial ideas…

Plus…

  • Names from the movie Eternals (like Sersi, Ikaris, Makkari)
  • Names from the movie Dune (like Chani, Atreides, Leto)
  • Turkish names from any of the Turkish dramas being aired in Spanish on Univision/Telemundo
  • Names from any new sci-fi/fantasy series (like Shadow and Bone, The Nevers, The Wheel of Time)

Some of the names mentioned in the 2020 game might be see increases in 2021 as well.

What other names should we add to the list? Let me know by leaving a comment!

I’ll post the game results after the SSA releases the 2021 baby name data (in May of 2022).

Where did the baby name Turhan come from?

Actor Turhan Bey
Turhan Bey

The rare name Turhan first appeared in the national dataset in 1944:

  • 1947: 7 baby boys named Turhan
  • 1946: 13 baby boys named Turhan
  • 1945: 6 baby boys named Turhan
  • 1944: 8 baby boys named Turhan [debut]
  • 1943: unlisted

The reason?

Hollywood actor Turhan Bey, who was a half-Turkish, half-Czech, Austrian-born actor who typically played exotic characters in Hollywood films during the 1940s and early 1950s. Fan magazines called him the “Turkish Delight.”

He was at the peak of his fame in the mid-1940s, so it’s hard to link this to one particular movie. That said, his name may have been boosted onto the charts in 1944 specifically thanks to the movie Dragon Seed, in which he played Lao Er (the husband of Jade, played by Katharine Hepburn).

He was born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Sahultavy. The name Turhan, primarily (but not always) used for males, is “an old Turkish name meaning chief or nobleman.” And the Turkish word bey has a similar meaning: “ruler” or “chief.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Turhan?

Sources:

  • Fortna, Benjamin C. “The Ottoman Educational Legacy.” Turkey’s Engagement with Modernity: Conflict and Change in the Twentieth Century, ed. by C. Kerslake, K. Öktem, P. Robins, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 15-26.
  • Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. 5th ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2010.
  • Turhan Bey – Wikipedia
  • Bey – Wiktionary